Tag: Oats

Avocado Bircher

I came across this recipe from Honestly Healthy and had never thought about adding avocado to oats.  I made this last night and really enjoyed it this morning. The avocado adds a lovely smooth texture to the oats.  The original recipe uses pomegranate seeds at the end before serving – I didn’t have any so substituted some dried cranberries and goji seeds instead.  Definitely a great way to have avocado for breakfast.

See the original recipe here

Avocado bircherAvocado Bircher (serves two generous portions)

  • 150g oats
  • 1 avocado
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 350ml almond milk (or other milk)
  • 1 apple grated
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Topping

  • Any seeds or fruit – pomegranate, dried cranberries, goji berries – something with a slightly sharp taste is a nice complement to the dish

Method

  • Chop the avocado into smallish chunks – squeeze the lemon juice over the top.
  • Put the oats in a bowl and add the milk, cinnamon, sesame seeds, apple and avocado.
  • Mix and leave to soak overnight.
  • Top with your choice of seeds and fruit.

 

Advertisement

Sticky Prune Bites

I found a tin of prunes in the back of the cupboard that were almost out of date, I have no idea why I bought them, but I hate wasting things so spent a large part of this morning trying to figure out what to do with them.  I tried making some granola but instead my ‘granola’ came out quite sticky and actually rather lovely, keeping the moistness of the prunes.

The result of my experiment are some rather lovely moist snacky bites – definitely somewhere between chunky granola and sticky flapjacks. Delicious on their own with a cup of coffee. It’s a good way to incorporate some prunes into your diet – I’ve never been a big fan, but keeping the moisture and adding some lovely zesty oats works for me.

Sticky Prune Bites

Makes enough bites for around 3 snacky breakfasts – if you can resist the urge to snack on them during the rest of the day.

Sticky prune bites

  • 100g oats
  • 1 tin of pitted prunes in juice (290g)
  • 50g whole almonds
  • Juice and Zest of one orange
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
  • 2 tablespoons of the prune juice
  • 1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Drain the prunes – and keep the juice. Put the oats in a bowl and chop in the prunes – I used scissors to chop them into chunks. Add the almonds and orange zest and mix well to ensure all the prune chunks are well covered in oats.

Mix the honey, orange juice, prune juice and sugar together in a small pan and heat gently for a couple of minutes until the honey and sugar is dissolved.  Let it cool for a couple of minutes and then add to the oat mix.  Mix it well – it will be wet and sticky.

Rub some butter on the bottom of a baking sheet to stop it sticking and then spread the oat mixture over the sheet.

Put it in the oven (200c/400f/Gas 6) – for 5 minutes.  Take it out and give it a shake and another mix up to break it up into pieces. It will still be quite sticky.

Cook for a further 5 minutes.  Take it out, shake it up again and leave to cool.

The final mix is still quite sticky but really lovely and moist and easily breaks into bite sized bits with lovely chunks of prune.

Store in an airtight jar in the fridge

Simply Hot B&B

This morning was a quick ‘what’s in the fridge to use up’ type breakfast – and today the blueberries were getting to that not so fresh stage.  Cooking them up with a banana is quick and easy and adding a few oats helps to bulk up what is essentially a warming low fat brekkie.

Simply Hot B&B (serves one)

Baked banana

  • 1 banana – cut into thick slices
  • handful of blueberries
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 20g oats
  • sprinkle of cinnamon

Melt the coconut oil then mix with the honey.  Mix this with the banana, blueberries, oats and cinnamon.  Make sure it’s all well coated. Pop into a hot oven – 200c/400f/Gas 6 for 10 minutes.  You want the blueberries to start going a bit squishy.

Nice served with yoghurt.

Jaffa Bircher

I love Jaffa cakes, the mixture of chocolate and orange is one of the best flavour combinations. I’ve recently  run a few trail events where Jaffa cakes have been available at the drinks stations alongside the gels and I have been nicely fuelled by Jaffa power.  I’ve been trying to recreate that Jaffa taste in a slightly healthier way.

I first discovered the joys of orange puree during a patisserie course last year and it’s fabulous for adding a really strong orange hit.  There is a bit of preparation the night before due to having to boil the oranges and make the puree, but it’s really easy and worth it.  The puree also freezes really well.  I freeze it in ice cube trays or small ramekins so it’s portioned ready to use.  So instead of boiling one orange at a time I boil 2 or 3 and freeze the leftover.

To make the orange puree

Put 1 or more whole oranges in a big pan of water, bring to the boil and then simmer for around an hour – they should feel very soft when ready but still intact. Drain them, cut them in half and let them cool. When cool blitz them in a processor – skin and all. This is your puree.

Jaffa Bircher (serves one)

Jaffa bircher

  • 100g orange puree (this a about half of a large orange when pureed)
  • 30g oats
  • 2 teaspoons of cacao powder
  • 10g dried cranberries
  • 100ml Almond milk

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight.  If you want a slightly wetter bircher add an additional tablespoon of almond milk over the mixture before putting in the fridge.

Before eating I like to sprinkle a few more cranberries and cacao nibs on top.

This is another most delicious brekkie that tastes soooo much better than it looks.